Paris Imposes Tax for Global Tech Companies ”GAFA”

CAIRO, Jan.2 (SEE)- France confirmed its plans to impose a tax on big technology companies. ”Bruno Le Maire”, the French finance minister announced that the tax will be introduced on January, 2019. At the beginning of the month it would start taxing Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon ”GAFA” if the ”EU” did not reach an agreement on a bloc wide tax in 2019.

Despite deriving huge revenues from European economies. The ”GAFA” companies have taken advantage of low tax jurisdictions which has allowed them to slash their tax bills by shifting profits to these jurisdictions. A number of other European countries including the UK, Spain and Italy, have expressed an interest in introducing a similar tax in response to public outrage.

France and Germany reached a consensus on a three % levy on digital ads after ”Paris” agreed to water down its initial proposals on a broader tax on data. The two EU powerhouses plan to introduce a new joint measure in 2021, unless the organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development ”OECD” members have agreed on a global approach by then.

The tax will be introduced whatever happens on January and it will be for the whole of 2019, for an amount that we estimate at €500m.

At the same time French President ”Emmanuel Macron” is a known critic of the big techs. He warned that ”Google” and ”Facebook” are becoming too big to be governed. on ”May’,’ Macron, demanded a gathering of global tech bosses to commit to the common good.